"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Monday, November 28, 2011

Tennessee Treasurer, David Lillard, Undercuts Local Decisions to Rein In Corporate Charter Schools

Following the blueprint from Gates and the other Business Roundtable education reform scammers, the Tennessee General Assembly passed laws last year that uncapped segregated corporate charter school expansion and opened the door to the fabulously-lucrative cyber school business, wherein underpaid adjunct teachers in their underwear monitor the "progress" of children working through stacks of 19th Century worksheets on their 21st Century IPads.

The greatest
concerns were related to finance. Troy Logan, the system’s fiscal administrator, questioned how the
district could absorb the cost of shifting funds to the HOPE Academy.

“The system is going
to lose revenue, and the board will have to make cuts based on all things being equal,” Logan
said. “However, the children won’t come from one school or classroom.”

“We could lose close
to $1 million,” said board member Brad Long in the meeting. “We’d be affecting 11,000 students and
benefiting 180 students. Money is my issue. I’m not willing to affect 11,000 students for 180
students.”

Despite the unanimous vote and lengthy deliberations, Republican State Treasurer, David Lillard, summarily concluded that the Board was wrong and there would be no million dollar loss of funds. Just like that. And so tomorrow at 10:30 AM, the State Board of Education will make the final determination on whether to support the local decisions by publicly elected officials in Blount County or to toe the new line drawn by the corporate ed reform establishment headed by Michelle Rhee's ex, Kevin Huffman, down in Nashville.

Meanwhile, an even larger decision awaits Mr. Lillard, as the city and county school boards in Memphis and Shelby County have rejected 17 new segregated charter applications that would drain $26 million from severely-underfunded public schools.

Take a couple of minutes to call the Treasurer, Mr. Lillard. Urge him to support local school board decision making in Memphis, rather than rule by big government. Isn't that what Republicans are all about?

As the Thanksgiving holiday weekend began, the countywide school
board had put the two public school systems’ long-held ambivalence about
charter schools on a fast track to Nashville.

The board on
Tuesday, Nov. 22, denied the applications of 17 charter schools for
Shelby County’s two public school systems claiming the fiscal impact of
the schools would be too much of a financial hardship on each system –
city and county.

The financial hardship exception is a part of
state law that requires each school system to cite specific numbers in
terms of student enrollment impact as well as specific dollar figures.
The Tennessee treasurer is the arbiter of whether there is a financial
hardship the state will recognize.

Memphis City Schools
superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash told the board the possibility of 14 new
charter schools in a city system that already has 25 with two more
starting next year would be too much for a system with charter school
growth of one to three per year.

He said it is “glaringly clear
that Memphis City Schools cannot now and in the future withstand the
financial impact to the district that this many charter schools approved
would have on the district.”

Cash estimated the fiscal impact on the MCS budget at $26 million that would have to be shifted from other areas.
Deputy superintendent Irving Hamer described the charter schools as an “unfunded mandate” from state government.

“We
actually have never been able to afford it,” he added. “It will
compromise the integrity of the operation of Memphis City Schools.”

Shelby
County Schools officials had taken an even harder line on charter
schools saying they didn’t fit the philosophy of the system. After the
old county school board rejected a charter school application last year,
the applicant appealed to the state. Tennessee education officials
ordered the board to approve the charter school – the first and only in
the system.

SCS officials will claim in their application that the
two additional charter schools would have an impact of $3.5 million
when added with the existing charter school.

The voice vote by the
board governing the two still separate school systems was not unanimous
but appeared to be well past the 12-vote majority needed.

Some
board members said the bid for financial hardship materialized too
quickly for them to vote based on a presentation the same night. Board
member Vanecia Kimbrow said the proof was not adequate and she could not
support the denial of charter schools that otherwise met benchmarks in
the application process.

“They only leave our system when they
have no other options,” Kimbrow said of parents who choose charter
schools. “It is not my job to take that option or that choice away from
anyone.”

Board member Jeff Warren,
however, said the schools are a financial drain on conventional public
schools that still must remain open and run buses even with the
estimated 4,545 students Cash’s staff estimates would transfer out of
those schools and among charter schools. That’s in a school system with
106,000 students kindergarten through 12th grade.

“We are locally
dealing with a national political issue,” Warren argued. “We have
legislators in Nashville that are being influenced by a national agenda
that says charter schools are the way to go. I think as a local board we
need to say … not now and not for Memphis.” . . . .